Expected Daily Mileage Advice Needed

spartanstorkbir said:

I have done two weekend tours. I did 34 miles day one and 34 miles day two on tour number one. I did 40 miles and 30 miles on tour number two. Tour number one did not have a tent or pad. Tour number two had tent and pad but less other stuff. I did very little on day three after both tours. How many miles might I expect to do on days three and four given these scenerios plus a slight reduction in weight next time? Thanks for your feedback.

Lee Stork
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Daily milwages will vary wildly depending on the route, the load and the rider. Don't worry about them, just enjoy your riding

I agree with Nun. Every ride and route varies. Enjoy the ride and don't push your physical limits on any one day or your next day will suffer. I only break that rule when 10-20 more miles past my comfort level will get me a hot shower and a cold beer.

i agree with the "do what feels right and enjoy it" school also, but if you're looking for a figure, i'd say that after you get used to it, you'll find 50 miles per day to be no problem, unless you are both old and out of shape or have other health issues. most likely, you'll soon be able to do rather more without problems. try not to bring the kitchen sink along, though. that'll slow you down for sure. 😎

Hi. This is my first post to Cycling forums. I think projecting your daily mileage loaded will not so much be a factor of what your previous weekend trips indicated, but rather a factor of the increase in 'quality' of your training rides leading up to your big tour...

In other words, what I experienced (at the age of 35) was that my weekend trip loaded mileage averaged about 40 to 50 miles (with a good amount of pain, I might add) at a time when my training rides (no load) were 20 miles or so. Contrast this with my training rides leading up to my TransAm ride, when I concentrated on rides of at least 2 hours and mileage averaging 40 to 50 miles. Upon embarking from Yorktown and kissing my wife and 3 yr old son goodbye, my main focus was not to crash with the 50 lbs of gear. Day 1, a half day, totaled about 25 miles when the next good camp ground past Jamestown seemed too far to attempt. Day 2 totaled about 80 miles - a nice ride with a little sightseeing of former president's houses and civil war battlefields included.

On Day 3, however, I surprised even myself, when I pushed forward for the campground south of Charlottesville VA for a mileage total of 101.5. Wow, I'd never planned it and really didn't expect to ride a century fully loaded. But it just happened. I think the fig newtons helped, as did the good quality training rides in the month leading up to departure. I took 2 advil and slept like a baby. Next day, I made the Cookie Lady's house right around lunch time...

My average daily mileage for the trip though totaled 45 to 50 miles. This was because, when I got to a place like Breckinridge, you tend to hang around for 4 days of loafing. The high mileage day was Hutchinson, KS, with a promise of lodging by a local church, I pushed it to 123 miles with a nice tailwind. I took the next day off, even though I didn't really need it.

The advice by "Nun" is all you really need...Enjoy the Ride.